--
Now back to previous messages:
> From: Doug Spence <ds_spenc_at_alcor.concordia.ca>
> Subject: Re: PET to S100 bus interface
> On Tue, 29 Apr 1997, Glenn Roberts wrote:
>> fyi, on p. 272 of November '79 Byte: a company called AB Computers offered
>> a device called "BETSI", described as a "PET to S-100 Interface &
>> Motherboard". cost was $119....
> Thanks for the info! I guess it was a fairly common type of device, then.
> I wonder if there are also IBM-PC to S100 interfaces?
I think advertising was cheaper then, cause there was alot of goodies
that were advertised and I haven't seen all too much of it.
-----
From: Captain Napalm <spc_at_armigeron.com>
Subject: Re: BYTE Magazines
> While I haven't read a Byte magazine in several years, (since the early 90s),
> those that I have seen I tend to group into three catagories:
> 1. Hobby Era (start of publication to late 83/early 84)
These are the best ones, back then BYTE called themselves 'The Small
Systems Journal' and everything was worth writing about.
> 2. Journal Era (early 84 to late 87/early 88)
Trying to be a programmer's/EE resource it seemed to me... Kinda forgot
the hobbiests. started to cater to the IBM clone market.
> 3. PC Rag Era (early 88 through the 90s)
Saw one just the other day, they now have under BYTE: "The Global
Authority of Computer Technology" They had their heyday as 'fat IBM
magazine,' and are now struggling for an identity again.
> My own collection of Byte starts with August of 85 (Amiga 1000 is the
>cover story) and ends somewhere in late 89 or early 90. The library at the
>university I attended had issues starting from Jan '77 (which I read 8-).
>The dates given here are approximate, looking at a Byte from 1980, then 1985
>then 1990 will show almost three different magazines.
I have a handfull from the 70s, (maybe back to 75 or 76?) a few from the
early 80s and avoided it once they dropped 8-bit information.
----
On starting a newsgroup:
Sounds great to me, It would be alot easier to reply to the posts I am
replying to, we (Diane and I) get alot of mail as it is and I don't
really want to un-digest the list.
----
On Sun, 4 May 1997, Robert Kirk Scott wrote:
> I also have begun focusing on the accessories, especially if they are
> mint or near it. To me a good user's manual, or a batch of original
> software that is still usable is every bit as desirable as a fine old
> machine.
Mint? I myself collect to use the machines, I try to keep my books in
decent shape but they are not even close to mint condition, nor do I
consider the condition of something I buy for my collection, as long as
it works, it provides information, or is interesting enough to warrant
the cost and space it will take up, I'll buy it. Software and Books are
a very important part of my collection, they take the computer beyond
'display peice' to actual usability and for me enjoyability.
-----
From: Paul E Coad <pcoad_at_crl.com>
Subject: Preserve the other stuff as well Was: Re: yo
> So what's the point? Preserving the machines is good, but it is only
> part of the picture. What is the good of preserving a machine if all
> of "culture" that surrounds the machine is lost?
So true, my collection is from late 70s through 80s and I try to get a
variety of stuff associated with it, fortunately I have disovered old
cataloga, price lists and ads beyond the ones in the magazines, and at
times I get lucky to find more in the stuff that I get/buy. (a recent
quest has been for a good copy of the Pac Man Fever LP, finally got a
scratched one...) I would love to get video recordings of the Commodore
VIC-20 and 64 commercials (Eveybody now, "I adore my 64, my Commodore
64!")
-----
TRON & Last Starfighter... Imaging systems.
Being a TRON & Last Starfighter fan, Lemme check my resources...
TRON effects were done by different groups, the most notable being MAGI
(Mathimatical Applications Group, Inc.) who had just recently created
the ray-tracing technique (called SythaVision at the time) for
visualizing objects. The other was Triple III. MAGI (ray-tracing) was
responsible for the effects up to the Solar sailer, after that it was
Triple I (traditional polygon 3-d) who had most of the work for the
sailer, MCP, etc. Alot of the work was done on the MAGI computers (in
New York) via a Chomatics 9000 terminal. (Well CineFex didn't shed
light on the computers themselves...) Ahh my TRON Collector's Edition
Book has computers listed! MAGI used a Perkin Elmer System 3420
Computer which features 2 MB RAM and 2 80 MB hard drives and talks to a
Celco CFR 4000 computer which is used to generate the pictures onto a
monitor (I am quoting here, sounds strange) Triple I uses a Foonley F-I
for handling the frame-by frame calculations and the pictures are
generated on a PFR recorder...
Last Starfighter: Done by Digital Productions which had use of a Cray
1/S and a Cray X-MP Encoding of the gunstars, wire frame previewing and
such were on a VAX 11/782. When final animation was generated the Cray
X-MP did the job as the VAX could only generate one frame in 16 hours
and the Cray could crank one out in 2.5 minutes. The film contained
36,000 frames of imagery.
-------
(RE: Patriot Games Effects)
> Hardly. I don't know of an operating system that yanks the file contents off
> of your screen when someone else on the network deletes them.
If I Delete files from someones shared hard drive on a Mac network
they'll see the folders and icons dissapear.
------
> Well, something tells me that the cost of the LCD display, however high
> it was, would have been peanuts in the prop and special effects budget.
Alot of companies deal in product placement (Apple especially) where
they are more than happy to loan (or even pay to loan) a movie company
some equipment for the background and/or prop in a film. The more their
computers are seen being somewhere, or even better, being used the
better for sales!
Ever see the movie Cloak and Dagger? Atari had quite a product
placement hand in that one!
If only I had known it was so rare, about a year ago I came across a ][c
with the LCD at a thrift store... I can't remember the price though,
but usually the stuff they sell is reasonable.
------
From: SUPRDAVE_at_aol.com
Subject: Ohio Scientific, anyone?
> I thought i'd post about a machine which certainly qualifies to be classic,
> an ohio scientific challenger C1P of which i know nothing about. i did get
> some extensive documentation with it including a presale brochure, some
> photocopied machine language programs, the original reciept dated 20jun1980
> for $425, some info about a d&n micro card which i also got, instructions for
> eprom burner software, basic ref manual, and some highly technical info and
> board schematics.
My brother had an interest in getting a Challenger (no money though), as
I remember, there is the Challenger 1P, 2P, 4P, and 8P (8P being big
boxes, the rest are within the keyboard enclosure). My brother was
interested in the features of the 4P (Of which I can hardly recall,
except the graphics set was kinda neat.).
------
Larry Anderson
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Received on Sun May 11 1997 - 21:21:37 BST
This archive was generated by hypermail 2.3.0 : Fri Oct 10 2014 - 23:30:33 BST